Saturday, 7 February 2015

For me the most intriguing and
interesting period in Hammer Film Productions’ long history is from 1970-76. By
this stage Hammer were no longer the despised whipping boys of the critical
cognoscenti but were establishment figures. In a remarkable about turn from the
late 1950’s they were now the acceptable face of the horror genre in British
film culture. But some things are more important than critical acceptance, and
one of those things is commercial success. At the turn of the decade Hammer
found themselves out of step and out of time, thanks in no small part to the
cynical nihilism of hard hitting horror productions such as Witchfinder General (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1968), and the
subtle and nuanced terrors of rigorously modern films like Rosemary’s Baby (1968). The release of controversial films such as Straw Dogs (1971), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The
Devils (1971), and later horror titles such as The Exorcist (1973) and The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) would only further dilute Hammer’s
horrifying visions. Hammer had little choice but to turn to nudity,
increased violence, and scenes of softcore lesbianism, in a series of films which
had little to differentiate them from the sexploitation product distributed
with seemingly unending regularity in mainland Europe.

The Celluloid Highway's Film of the Week

Introduction

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